Teheran, May 10 : In a unique twist to the ongoing Osama bin Laden saga, Iran's intelligence minister has said Tehran has "genuine intelligence showing that the terroist leader died of disease long before the alleged raid" by the United States, the Iranian semiofficial FARS news agency reported.
"We have accurate information that bin Laden died of illness some time ago," Heidar Moslehi said on the sidelines of a Cabinet meeting Sunday, FARS reported.
"If the U.S. military and intelligence apparatus have really arrested or killed bin Laden, why don't they show him (his dead body)? Why have they thrown his corpse into the sea?" Moslehi asked, according to a TV report, FARS reported the minister of having said.
By releasing such "false news," he says, the White House is trying to overshadow "regional awakening."
Moslehi is quoted as saying U.S. officials resort to such PR campaigns to divert attention from domestic problems as well as their "fragile" economic situation, FARS reported.
